Before I enter upon an inquiry into the authenticity of this Charter, it may be proper to premise, that Saint Etheldreda, one of the daughters of king Anna, and wife, first to Tonbert, prince of the southern Gervii, and afterwards to Egfrid, king of Northumberland, is reported to have founded at Ely, about the year 673, a religious society both for monks and nuns, who lived together under the government of an abbess. In this state the society continued till the year 870, when it was destroyed by the Danes.